One day
by Baibe
Summary: Just one day. Not even that, one moment in one day. One little spark and no more ED.  AU starting with the fire featuring all current cast but Dylan/Sam centric
1. Chapter 1

**Hi, this is my first casualty story since writing Latrick fics on the bbc website many moons ago. I'm obsessed with Dylan/Sam BTW have they got a name yet? Salan or Dyam or something? Anyway I wanted to have a go at writing them so here we are this starts off with the fire but things went a little differently as you'll see. I should apologise now for going overboard with the symbolism.**

**I do not own casualty or any of the characters or situations that you recognise they are property of the BBC and this is not for profit.**

* * *

><p>Just one day. Not even that, one moment in one day. One little spark and no more ED. To say Lenny blamed himself was an understatement, he watched as the place he'd spent most of his time for the last few years became a blackened empty hill and he felt numb. Someone, maybe Charlie clapped him on the shoulder and moved away as the fire crews continued to spray water onto the pile of smouldering rubble that had once been a busy A&amp;E department.<p>

It was his fault, all of it. Luckily there was no structural damage to the hospital and the fire hadn't spread to the wards above, which would have been catastrophic. He sighed and turned his head to look over to the triage area they had set up in the car park where Sam and Mr Jordan were working on Frank, trying to stabilise him in order to transfer him to st James's. If he didn't make it, that could be classed as manslaughter right? He didn't know, even if it did no-one would know it was his fault. They'd put it down to faulty wiring, there was no Christmas tree left now. No 'snug'... No evidence. Someone started wheeling him towards a waiting ambulance, no warning just suddenly he was moving. Was this how they treated patients? He didn't want the answer to be yes. "wait!" he couldn't go yet "I need to know" he coughed and spluttered a little having refused oxygen for the smoke he had inhaled "I need to know that Zoe and Dylan get out okay." he was overcome once more with a fit of coughs and didn't struggle when an oxygen mask was placed over his mouth and nose pleading with his eyes as he gulped in deep breaths trying to fill his aching lungs with fresh clean air. Lloyd glared at him. Lenny hadn't even registered who it was, looking through him rather than at him.

"Okay but if Mr Jordan asks I tried and you insisted you stay" Lenny nodded his eyes unfocused, the building before them chose that moment to throw out a wall of flame and the world seemed to stop turning as everything shook. Bricks and tiles fell around them, the inane chatter shattered by a colossal sound like a hundred pianos being dropped from a great height. How a mass of metal and rubble could make such a sound none of the observers knew, but the audience didn't applaud this symphony instead the response was an aria. One voice amongst the shocked silence cried out and then all hell broke loose. Lenny was moved, he couldn't protest anymore and was loaded into an ambulance to be moved somewhere safe, as the ambulance doors closed he could no longer hold back the tears and allowed them to cascade down his face. He prayed to a God that he didn't really believe in, they couldn't die. They couldn't.

It was Sam who had screamed, she was now being restrained by Mr Jordan. She struggled to free herself futilely, her energy was drained by shock and worry she failed her arms weakly against her captor while the rest of the staff looked on helplessly. Firefighters stood back waiting for the angry dragon which seemed to lurk in the hospital basement to pause for breath so they could make their attack, brave knights donned fireproof armour and took up swords of foam and water. At a nod from above they plunged into the inferno riding solely on adrenaline searching out the missing doctors.

Outside everything seemed to go in slow motion, Frank had been loaded into another ambulance headed to st James's and despite her resistance Scarlet was sent with him. She was miraculously unharmed but wheezing slightly, and someone needed to go with Frank. Charlie and Nick were trying to calm Sam, assuring her that Dylan and Zoe would be fine. She scowled how could they know that? One of first things you learn in a hospital is not to make promises. She stopped struggling and went limp feeling her phone vibrate in her pocket, she knew who it was. Noel was contacting the next of kin and that meant her, not that anyone knew. "Are you going to get that?" Nick could feel it too, he was holding her close comforting not only her but also himself. His fear for his colleagues momentarily pushed aside as Sam stepped out of his embrace to get at her pocket, she glanced and the familiar number on the screen and wordlessly passed the phone to her confused boss who accepted the call.

"Hello Mrs Keogh?" Noel's voice rang out of the phone and also from the tent behind them. "I'm calling from Holby City emergency department, your husband..."

"Noel?" Nick cut him off.

"Mr Jordan?" Nick slowly lowered the phone to his side, Noel's voice still emanating out of it until he realised no-one was listening and hung up running out of the tent to see what was happening.

"Mrs Keogh?" Nick looked at Sam questioningly "Your married?" She nodded then uttered the word that supposedly defined them:

"Separated" she scrubbed at the tears trying to roll down her checks with the cuff of her jumper leaving red raw patches to match the rims of her eyes. Had the situation been different money would have changed hands somewhere but at that moment another roar from the beast that was slowly engulfing the hospital called for their attention, the assembled staff and recue workers watched with awe as out of the flames walked the firefighters one of them carrying a barely conscious Zoe. Nick relaxed slightly but Sam was almost inconsolable until two more figures emerged, one fireman and one doctor refusing to be supported and walking unaided. The collective sigh of relief should have been enough to blow out the fire still raging within the hospital but it continued to burn.

Sam took advantage of the distraction that was Zoe to push past her restraints and run to her husband ignoring the shouted warnings thrown her way, she stopped just in front of him unsure how to act. But as another explosion burst from the depths of the hospital the decision was taken from her, Dylan pulled her to him sheilding her from the blast with his already slightly singed body and cushioning her fall with his arms. The dust settled and Dylan made to roll off her but was stopped by Sam's arms clinging to him "Samantha?" her eyes were squeezed shut trying to block out the images of battlefields and landmines that had been threatening to resurface since the first explosion, but she relaxed her grip allowing him to stand and pull her to her feet. The awkwardness returned and they stood watching each other, "Are you okay?" She nodded but he knew she was lying, her eyes were far away and he guessed they were with her mind in the Helmand province. He stepped closer to offer support, in his world this geture was about as intimate as cuddling.

"I thought I'd lost you" Dylan opened his mouth as though to respond with something equally sincere but mindful of the colleagues around them trying to check them both over instead likened himself to a cockroach. The nurses gave up on them and moved to some more willing patients leaving Sam to fall into Dylan's embrace, he patted her shoulder conscious that they were being watched then leaned closer.

"Now you know how it feels," he practically whispered hoping no-one could hear them. She understood and fresh wave of tears fell washing a clean path down her soot strewn face.

"I'm sorry, I didn't want to go."

"I know," his voice had returned to its normal annoyed self. "But can we do this later? We have an audience." he straightened his arms pushing her to a more manageable distance, Sam noticing for the first time just how many people had been watching their exchange.

"Oh, They erm know..."

"Know what?"

"About us, you have me as your next of kin."

"Oh, well technically you are." He gave her one of his half smiles that only last a second and walked towards the make-shift triage area where Mr Jordan was waiting for him leaving her looking questioningly in his wake.

Dylan dropped down into a chair next to a far more alert Zoe and let his head rest in his hands, the adrenaline was wearing off and he was running on empty. She lifted her oxygen mask off slightly and turned her head to look at him, "So she's not your daughter then?"

* * *

><p><strong>So there we are then, it's not a one shot but I don't want to make promises on when there will be more as I have a heavy workload but I'm sure it will happen. Please let me know if you liked it, and also be aware that I think I've found a clever way to upload from iPad but I am not 100% sure it's working properly.<strong>

**I would really love to hear from you. X**


	2. Chapter 2

**Here is part two, thank you so much to the reviewers I really appreciate you taking the time to respond. Was anyone else disappointed that it was Sam, Dylan and Tom's day off? Well here is some DylAm to keep you going.**

* * *

><p>"Are you coming for a drink?" the fire was out and the staff were heading out to celebrate, maybe celebrate was the wrong word but as everyone got out of the building alive it felt like a celebration of life was needed. Sam shook her head.<p>

"No thanks, I'm wiped." she hadn't even been working, just had this feeling that she needed to go by the hospital. Okay that wasn't true she'd heard sirens and followed, as a doctor and army medic she had an innate need to help people. She was also drawn to adventure, one of the main reasons she had joined the army in the first place was to see the world and get paid doing it. Unfortunately Afghanistan hadn't turned out to be the world and she had already lost far more than she could ever gain from it, suddenly her Mum's cruise ship suggestion wasn't looking so bad.

"Come on then." It was Dylan looking down at where she sat in the edge of the pavement, Sam looked confused. "You'll inevitably want to 'talk' so we may as well get it over and done with." he turned and began to walk to his car forcing Sam to run after him.

"Where are we going?"

"Home" she didn't move just looked at him curiously as he opened the passenger door and gestured for her to get in.

"You were never very good at talking about things."

"No, and probably never will be but I'm willing to try." He left the door open for her and went round to the drivers side.

"Are you sure you should be driving?" He buckled his seat belt and looked at her through the open door.

"Just get in the car Dr Nicholls" She did as she was told.

"Actually it's Major Nicholls now." He pulled away as soon as the door was shut watching as she fastened her seat belt.

"I thought it was Captain? Regardless doctor, captain, major... It should still be Keogh." she looked at him curiously and he gave her another of those barely there smiles.

"Technically" She wasn't sure whether to be annoyed at his notion of ownership or not, so instead glared out of the window missing the smirk that graced Dylan's face at the use of his word. Sometime later, not long after she had decided Dylan wasn't being possessive Sam realised they were leaving Holby. "Where are we going?"

"I told you, home."

"I don't have a home." She had a house but hadn't referred to anywhere as home for a long time, she'd talked about 'home' when she was in Afghanistan but didn't really know what it was until it or rather he wasn't there to go home to. Dylan looked across at her, she looked so desolate and he considered taking her hand to try and reassure her but thought better of it. She'd called herself by her military title and that usually meant she was being tough action Sam rather than the more caring Dr Sam, he looked again to see her fast asleep. It had been an emotionally draining day and she just couldn't keep her eyes open any longer, at least it would make the drive easier without her incessant curiosity.

"Sam, wake up." a couple of hours later they had arrived and Dylan was shaking Sam awake, it was dark. It had been dark when they left so Sam concluded that either they hadn't been driving very long or she'd slept for a whole day, that was pretty unlikely really though and she knew they'd gone South. "We're here." She'd been about to ask where 'here' was but quickly realised she knew, they were home. Well the last place either of them had called home, the house they had bought together in Plymouth, well Mutley... It was where they had met, she'd been studying at the Peninsular medical school and he was working in A&E at Derriford hospital where she did a placement. Then later after they had married and he was working at a GP in Plympton she was posted to Okehampton camp and Plymouth was her weekend retreat, eventually they saved enough to buy this house and it was where she went when on leave.

"I thought you sold it." He had transferred her money which he said came from the sale of their house.

"No" he shook his head and passed her a set of keys, her keys with the caduceus key ring he had bought her when she was newly qualified. Sam turned the keys over in her hands.

"But..." He knew what she meant, he always knew what she meant. this was how they worked so well together, they could say so much without really saying anything.

"I knew you'd need money for a flat." He turned and walked into the house leaving the door wide open and heading straight for the kitchen, pulling mugs from cupboards as though the last ten months hadn't happened. It was as though they'd never left.

"Dylan" Sam followed him in leaning on the door frame as he boiled the kettle "You didn't have to do that." He shrugged

"Yes I did, I rented this place out to students for a while. Only fair to share the profit." She knew he was lying, there was no sign that anything in the house had changed and how many students completely moved out at Christmas?

"Oh" He poured hot water into cups before realising there was no milk, of course there wasn't. No-one had been there for ten months, if there had been milk it would not have been drinkable. "I'll go," Sam headed to the front door as they had entered the house through the back.

"Sam" she turned back just as she reached the pile of unopened mail on the doormat "get some bread as well." she nodded picking up the stack of proof that no-one else had lived here and placing them on the ledge by the door before going out. There was a co-op just down the road on the corner opposite a block of student flats, she noted that there were still a lot of students in residence as she entered the tiny shop. It obviously survived mostly on the students with two aisles of groceries and the other half of the shop dedicated to alcohol, she grabbed milk, bread, butter and eggs then a bottle of whiskey just in case.

Walking back to the house was uphill, it never felt like a hill when you were going down but somehow was hard work going up. Sam sighed to herself, maybe she wasn't as fit as she thought. Or maybe it was trepidation of the 'talk' that awaited at home making her drag her heels, she was so caught up in speculation as to why he had even brought her here that she almost walked past the house. It was hard to miss, being the last one before the road twisted slightly to the left and painted bright yellow with black edging. The bumble bee house, that's what they had called it when it was in the group of maybes. The gate creaked ominously and she climbed the steps to the black front door, as she turned her key she noted how 'normal' it felt... Like they had never left.

"I'm back" she didn't really need to announce herself the door was noisy enough on its own, she scooped up the pile of mail on the way through to the kitchen and handed Dylan the bag. He added milk to the cups of rapidly cooling black tea on the counter and handed her one which she somehow took without lifting her eyes from the envelopes she was flicking through, he figured it was something to do with her army training. She always seemed to know what was going on around her, he turned back to the kitchen to put away the rest of the food. Sam dropped the pile onto the coffee table it was mostly junk but seeing letters addressed to Mr & Mrs Keogh was hard, although technically it should be Dr and Major Keogh MD. She was pulled from her reverie by Dylan poking his head around the door and holding up the bottle of whiskey raising one eyebrow at her questioningly

"What? I thought we might need it."


	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter! The start of is chapter is for witchcat who pointed out something rather important I had forgotten, I hope I have rectified that now. **

**This chapter was particularly hard to write and is mostly Sam and Dylan talking, if some of it seems out of character then I am sorry but Dylan especially is difficult to write as we've never seen him in this situation. (Although hopefully they will talk it out soon.)**

**Enjoy**

* * *

><p>Sam returned from the kitchen with the bottle of whiskey and two glasses to see Dylan on the phone, he had his back to her and was clearly quite annoyed with whoever was on the other end of the line.<p>

"Just put the phone by her ear!" Sam frowned trying to work out who he was talking to. "I don't care if you feel stupid, just do it!" He was getting really angry now, Sam almost felt for the person on the other end. "Zoe put the phone by Dervla's ear!" Oh, Zoe. Not just Zoe but she'd been trusted to look after his beloved dog, that couldn't possibly be good. Sam sat down and waited for him to finish his conversation with Dervla. He assured the dog that he still loved her and would be back to get her soon, speaking as though she were human rather than canine. Sam sighed and rested her head in her hands with her elbows on her knees, this was never going to go well. He loved that dog more than he'd ever loved her, and then there was Zoe. Dylan didn't have friends he preferred to be alone, so what did that make Zoe? Before she had time to ponder further he hung up the phone and turned to look at her. "Dervla" he gestured to phone in explanation.

"I heard, she okay?" he nodded.

"She misses you."

Sam smirked, "she said that?"

"Not in so many words, but you run faster than I do." He smiled an actual proper smile, that stayed on his face for longer than a second and Sam saw a glimpse of the man she used to know.

"You left her with Zoe?"

"I didn't leave her with Zoe, I hadn't planned on bringing you here. Couldn't leave her on her own."

"So why did you then?" he flopped down on the sofa beside her both staring forwards not looking at each other.

"Why did I leave her, or why did I bring you here?"

"Both"

he sighed, "I think we need to be alone, somewhere neither of us can run away from." She nodded and leaned forward to pour them both a measure of whiskey, "We have to sort this Sam," she pushed his drink towards him taking a sip of her own. "I don't drink."

"You used to."

"I used to do a lot of things, I don't anymore." his voice was harsh, Sam wondered if 'a lot' of things he didn't do included loving her.

"Do you want a divorce?" He shook his head slowly.

"I don't know anymore." Sam picked up his drink and put it into his hand. "Sam I said..."

"Shh," she cut him off much to his annoyance. "A game, we take turns to ask anything we want. If the answers yes you drink and you have to be honest."

"Samantha I think we are a little old to be playing drinking games." he sounded pretty pissed off.

"Fine then," she was getting angry now. "You know we're both far to stubborn to actually talk so we'll just sit here in silence shall we?" She slumped back against the cushions with her arms folded across her chest, and they sat in silence for a few minutes at least. "So why did you stop drinking?" He frowned at her still holding the glass of whiskey tight in his hand,

"I thought it had to be a yes or no question?" Sam smiled and sat up a little straighter thinking of a way to phase her question.

"Did you stop drinking because of me?" he took a sip, enjoying the burn as the alcohol passed down his throat.

"Not directly but yes, did you come to Holby to find me?" Sam drank grimacing slightly at the taste.

"I didn't choose the hospital though, just the area. Hadn't intended on working with you again." She paused for a moment thinking "Did you really rent this place out to students?" He didn't reply but didn't drink either, "I knew it, so the money?" Dylan shook his head,

"You only get one question, did you have an affair?" Straight to the difficult questions then, he watched her closely but she didn't move except for the silent tears which began to trickle unchallenged down her cheeks. She shook her head,

"No."

"No?"

"I didn't, is that so hard to believe?" He took a drink, Sam laughed through her tears "Are you just drinking or was that you saying yes?"

"Saying yes," he stood up from the sofa to get the height advantage. "Frankly that's very hard to believe considering you told me you did." His voice was as hard as it was possible to be without shouting and had more of an effect on her than if he'd roared, but it was the sadness in his eyes that stopped Sam shouting back. "Are you going to tell me why then or are we going to keep playing stupid games?" He was shouting now and Sam thought carefully about how to word what she had to say.

"I didn't want to hurt you," her voice was small and sounded very unlike itself. "I'm sorry Dylan."

"For what?" He sat back down but on the arm chair distancing himself from her. "For not doing anything wrong?

"Dylan please," She sat forward in her seat trying to make up the lost space. "You don't know what it was like..."

"No Sam I don't because you never told me, you never talked about it. Can't have been that bad though, you went back." he paused for a moment as though suddenly realising, "Or was that just to get away from me?"

"No," she shook her head "I needed you."

"You should have let me in then rather than running back to Afghanistan."

"I know, I'm sorry. I didn't want you to lose me."

"I did lose you though."

Sam angrily brushed the tears aside. "Just shut up and listen!" she took a drink and tried to collect her thoughts, opening that part of her mind where she kept her experience in Helmand locked up "So many people were dying, everyday we were sending bodies back to England." she glanced down at her hands to see them shaking and put her glass down for fear of dropping it. "A friend of mine died, blown up by a land mine. He had a wife and a five year old boy, their lives were ruined by some stupid war that wasn't even ours to fight. I never wanted that to be you, spending your life worrying about me only to get the news that I'd died." she fell silent lost in her recollections.

"So you lied and said you'd cheated?" she nodded.

"I thought it would be easier if you didn't love me any more." silence descended again as they both became engrossed in their thoughts.

"I did worry," She looked up at him blinking as though surprised to see him there. "Every day I wondered what you were doing, if you were okay. Every time there was a news report I hoped it wouldn't be your name I saw, I still loved you Sam. Despite what you said you did" Loved, he said loved past tense. Did that mean he didn't anymore? Sam didn't look round but she felt the sofa dip as he sat beside her.

"Do you think, if I had... If I'd..."

"Yes."

"What?"

"Yes I think we'd still be together if you hadn't left."

"And now?"

"I don't know yet, we've got a long way to go." He yawned and stood up, "Right now we both need to sleep its been a long day." he glanced at his watch, and a long night. Sam didn't move from her spot on the sofa, "come on." He took her hand and pulled her gently to standing,

"I don't think, I mean..."

"No, I don't think we're quite ready to be sharing a bed again yet. I'll take the spare room." She nodded and allowed herself to be propelled from the room, leaving the almost full bottle and two barely drunk glasses of whiskey on the table.


	4. Chapter 4

**So here is the final chapter, I hope it's a satisfactory ending for all of you. Thanks to all of my reviewers and alerters this is for you.**

**Once again I think Dylan is quite out of character towards the end of the chapter but I also think this is just a side to him that we haven't yet seen. I hope you agree.**

* * *

>Sam couldn't sleep and weirdly it had nothing to do with being in 'their' bed, strange as it was to be back there. She should have been exhausted and she was but every time she closed her eyes all she could see was fire and explosions, Helmand had mingled with Holby in her head and everywhere she looked there were people she couldn't save. She sat up and rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand, she needed to find something to distract her long enough to fall asleep. Her thoughts wandered to the man sleeping in the next room, after her first tour he'd always been there when the nightmares came. They never spoke about it but he held her close when she woke and stroked her hair whispering about anything really to get her mind back in the UK so she could dream happy dreams, often he talked about interesting cases he'd had that day at work and sometimes they found the diagnoses for difficult cases together in the early hours. But this time she was alone, she had been since returning from her second tour. For what felt like the hundredth time since making the decision she regretted pushing Dylan away. She'd done it to protect him from the war she didn't expect to survive, thinking her death would be easier on him if she could make him stop loving her. It didn't even work he'd, still loved her and she hadn't died.<p><p>

She frowned for a moment, survivers guilt was something she had delt with a lot when she first returned but it was a long while since those sort of thoughts crossed her mind.

Nowadays when she woke she would try to read or watch tv to get her back to sleep again but it never worked, she would get sucked in to the tv show or the book and stay awake to finish it. Instead she would aim for prevention and wear herself out during the day, throwing herself into hard work and exercise hoping that when she got home she would just crash and sleep through till morning. She glanced around the room hoping to find a book she could read. It wasn't completely empty Dylan had obviously decided he didn't need to empty the house when he moved, unsurprisingly most of what had been left was hers. She'd never really noticed things were missing until now, she had found a pair of track suit bottoms and an old Plymouth Uni hoody in a drawer which was what she was wearing now. There were some more of her clothes hanging in the wardrobe and a pile of empty photo frames on the dresser but that was about it. There was only one thing for it, she would have to get up and go downstairs in the hope that the TV would take her mind off things.

Sam swung her legs out of bed but as soon as her feet touched the freezing floor she pulled them back up again. She'd forgotten how cold this house got in the winter, even if the heating was on full all the time it was still cold. Something to do with the age of the house probably, maybe if they had stayed they would have insulated it. She eventually summoned up the courage to get out of bed and thankfully found a pair of odd socks in a drawer to keep out the worst of the cold, she ventured downstairs as quietly as possible striving to remember which floorboards creaked but failing and hitting almost all of them. She made herself a drink and ensconced herself on the sofa, flicking through the tv channels to find something bearable. Eventually she found an old film and settled down to wait for morning or sleep which ever came first, wishing she'd brought the duvet from upstairs as the cold seemed to seep into her bones.. Sometime later, she didn't really know when only that it felt like hours the way it always does when you can't sleep. Sam became aware of movement in the house and was instantly alert, having momentarily forgotten in her sleepy haze that there was anyone else staying there. The footsteps were in the hallway now, not registering the fact that had someone broken in she probably would have heard it Sam prepared to defend her castle and almost as soon as the door handle turned she had the intruder restrained. Only it wasn't an intruder.

"Sam what the hell?" She immediately let Dylan go, he rubbed his arms glaring at her and trying to convince himself that had he been more awake she wouldn't have been able to restrain him quite so easily.

"Sorry, I didn't know it was you. I thought you'd broken in." It sounded daft now she'd said it out loud.

"From upstairs?"

Sam pouted childishly "I said sorry." She sat back down and stared at the tv screen where the film was still playing, willing him both to go away and never leave at the same time. He sat down next to her,

"I thought you were a burglar too, until I remembered. What're you doing up?" She just looked at him, she couldn't tell him the truth that would be admitting weakness but she had vowed to herself that she would never lie to him again so instead said nothing. He knew anyway, the look in her eyes told him everything he needed to know. "Bad dreams?" She nodded, he paused a moment before lifting his arm allowing her to cuddle into his side seeking warmth and reassurance from his body. "Do you want to talk about it?" Sam lifted her head from his shoulder where it had been resting to meet his gaze, she really wanted to shake her head and lock the memories away until next time they managed to reach the surface. But bottling it up hadn't helped her in the past, and now was as good a time as any to try something different. She lay her head back on her husbands shoulder, not wanting him to be able to read her eyes.

"It's just the fire," she spoke tentatively "it brought everything back... All the people I couldn't save." Because that was what she dreamt about, she never forgot a soldier she hadn't saved. Every time she closed her eyes she saw their faces, remembered their names and how each one had lost their life. Dylan felt the tears that trickled onto the t-shirt he was wearing and stroked her arm soothingly.

"Tell me."

"Why?"

"A problem shared and all that rubbish, it might help. And if this," he gestured between them. "Us is going to work again we have to talk to each other."

So she told him everything, every man and woman who hadn't made it. Some so young away from their mothers for the first time, far too young to die. She told him how rank stopped mattering, they weren't privates or sergeants they were people with families who would never see them again. She talked about how she had never feared for her own life, just the lives of those in her care and how subsequently she would go into the most dangerous situations to get to injured soldiers. She'd been promoted for precisely this getting a critically injured young captain out of a difficult situation alive and transporting him back to base. And she talked about him, how he'd been her lifeline on her first tour keeping her going with tales of home. Then on her second tour, after she had ripped them apart how lonely she felt.

He didn't speak while she was talking sensing that she needed to get it all out. He'd known what it was like out there, the BBC news reported daily but to hear her first hand experiences made it all more real and he couldn't help but be proud of her. When she stopped talking he gently wiped the tears from her cheeks with his thumbs, lifting her face to look at him properly.

"You can't save every one, all you can do is patch them up and hope for the best. You did more than anyone could have expected of you, and it's not your fault. There are so many people alive now because of you, think about the people you saved." He was still caressing her cheek with his thumb, "You saved me," she looked at him curiously. "I didn't even know I needed saving until you came along, then you tried to save me again which didn't quite work but." It was hard for him to say having spent a long time resenting her, "I forgive you, I need you Sam and I think you need me too." He pulled her face to his and slowly, unhurriedly allowed their lips to meet just for a second before pulling apart again. "I still love you you know."

"I love you too."

"Move in with me?"

"What into your boat?"

Dylan shrugged, "or we could sell this place and get a house in Holby." He stood up from the sofa pulling her with him, "whatever you want, just don't leave me again." He took her hand, trying to keep the pleading tone from his voice. He was lost without her.

"Never." she took his other hand and rose up on tip toes to look him in the eyes, "I will never hurt you like that again."

"Good." He once again claimed her lips with his this time letting the kiss last a little longer before breaking apart but neither pulling back, "Bed?" she nodded and turned off the tv before following him up the stairs. She didn't need to ask about the sleeping arrangements now, knowing he would be there to hold her if the nightmares came.

The end

* * *

><p><strong>So there we are, the happy ending some of you have been craving I hope you liked it.<strong>

**I think I may have stoked at least the start of Dylan's: 'you can't save them all' speach from somewhere possibly casualty or maybe ER or even Scrubs if you know where its from please let me know.**


End file.
